Kaiser Grayson was, in a word, furious.

The reason for his anger could be attributed to one simple woman who was having the time of her life without a single concern in her pretty little head.

Platinum Entertainment had the special privilege of getting show recordings before they aired so they could manage their artists’ images and ensure nothing controversial was posted. With Valentina going on Weekly Idol, naturally, he told Roman to request the footage as soon as it was done and had it sent to him.

It wasn’t for anything malicious since his lawyers would be reviewing it as well, but since he was a perfectionist, he just wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t miss anything that could possibly harm her.

That was his first mistake. Maybe things could have been different if he hadn’t seen it. But he had.

As he watched Valentina on the variety show, his mood continually dropped straight to the ground, and the temperature of his office quickly became a blizzard, causing even his usually bold assistant to become fearful and avoid him for the remainder of the day.

He knew her and the Grenier boy were close and supposed to act closer, yet he didn’t like it one single bit.

Seeing Valentina laughing happily while having tangible chemistry with Rio and playing games with him left a bitter taste in his mouth. Adding in the fact that the male host was not only being flirtatious but openly making advances that Valentina laughed off with that awkward smile she had when she wanted to avoid something, his eyes began seeing red, and he noted the man’s name down.

The worst part, though, was seeing Rio perform after the rounds of questions.

To others, it would seem as if he were just staring at the audience, but he could tell that his gaze was focused solely on Valentina. His eyes were locked with hers numerous times, not to mention the lyrics of the song.

To him, it sounded like a love confession and a declaration of war.

He wanted to immediately turn off the screen and focus on his work but forced himself to watch everything, including Valentina, denying that she was in a relationship with someone.

Although he understood her reasoning, it was still something that displeased him greatly.

So he was upset and very, very angry. Mostly at Rio Grenier but partially at Valentina. He was someone with a direct personality, both in life and business, and going about things in a circuitous manner grated on his nerves.

He hadn’t been lying to Valentina when he said he handled issues much bigger than this on a regular basis. If she would allow him, a single word from him to Black Rock and they would offer up her contract. Even if they jacked up the price, he could afford to pay and break it off.

If she just came out and said that she was his, a lot of her issues would be resolved, her career would be nothing but smooth sailing, and people like Aaliyah and Antonio Salazar couldn’t mess with her even if they tried.

But she wanted to do it herself and insisted on him not interfering.

Many pens had met their untimely end while he was restraining his anger at Rio since he couldn’t bear to be upset at Valentina.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Fine. He would comply even if he was angry about it.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down. He couldn’t lose his temper and be jealous. That never ended well for anybody.

Things were going well between them, there was no need to let an unrelated third party gain a foothold.

Returning from the office early, he had messaged her with no response. Approximating the time, it would take for her to get back, he had ordered her favorite spicy chicken and even put Luca to bed early while he waited for her, yet there was no sign of her coming back. The food turned cold, and his heart was doing the same.

He sat alone in the dark, rewatching the video while browsing the internet for any news about her.

He knew that she had left the studio with Rio. He also knew that they had briefly stopped at the Platinum Entertainment building before heading out again, as Roman fearfully reported. It was just the two of them with no Shawn and no manager.

He knew that she was probably fine. As an adult with her own life, she didn’t owe him any information on where she was, who she was with, what she was doing, or whether she was coming back to his home. She didn’t even have to update him on her whereabouts. He didn’t provide the same information, so he had no room to complain.

He knew that she could do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted. As an attractive woman who was naturally charming, she had lots of suitors, and as a man, he could tell what kind of gaze Rio Grenier looked at her with.

Logically, he knew all this, but his heart was still in turmoil, and he had a bitter taste in his mouth. There was no way he could sleep until she came back.

Throughout the entire night, from the moment he arrived back at his home until the sun rose up, he sat there, watching, waiting for her to come home.

In the early morning, his assistant sent him several articles that had his blood boiling.

Several paparazzi had taken photos of Valentina and Rio leaving what looked like a neighborhood restaurant, taking a walk in a park while drinking tea, eating at a dive restaurant, sitting on the hood of a car, and generally smiling and laughing with each other.

Even though the two had maintained a good distance between them, he could still tell that the atmosphere was good between them as Valentina’s eyes were curved in a manner that meant that she was quite happy not to talk of Rio’s pleased expression.

For all intents and purposes, they looked like a couple on a date. Even their clothing was matching, and Valentina looked as if she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

He had immediately sent a kill order, but other articles that hadn’t used HD images had still been published by bigger blogs, which cleverly avoided Platinum Entertainment’s bottom line of tarnishing their artists. The articles were speculative at best, listing the popular artists that it could possibly be, but her name had been included.

The temper that he had somehow calmed flared up again.

What the hell was she doing? And why was she doing it with him? For weeks, he had been trying to bridge the gap between them, to allow them to get closer, to let him take her out, and she had refused on account of being busy. He thought they had finally moved closer but a couple days ago, he was seeing this?

It made him angry.

Everything he wanted to do with her, she was doing it with another man.

After ordering his assistant to kill the articles that could be killed and threaten those that could be threatened into changing their content, he went to his home gym to let out some stress.

Wrapping his hands, he went to work against the sandbang until his whole body was drenched in sweat. He felt that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to control what would come out of his mouth if he saw her.

Even while feeding Luca breakfast, his expression was dark and the young boy took one look at it and ran away after stuffing his food into his mouth.

Luca only had one thought while looking at his father.

Scary. His father looked very scary today despite the large hand softly patting his head. He would just go to his room and wait for his Aunty Val to come back.

Kaiser noted it, ordering some toys in apology for Luca before sitting on the couch and waiting. The driver had been called and was picking her up at this moment.

He briefly considered going himself but figured it might be better to talk it out at home.

When Valentina finally walked in, a relieved smile on her face, her hair pulled into a damp bun, and dressed in oversized clothing that was clearly not her size and belonged to another man, he felt his mood darken even more.

As she walked closer, he could smell the cologne of somebody else diffusing the scent he usually smelled on her.

“Good morning! Why are you home? Sorry for not responding to your messages. I had a busy day yesterday, lost track of time, and then my phone died. Shouldn’t you be at work? You look terrible. Are you sick?” Valentina asked him in a surprised tone as she reached out to touch his face.

Ducking her hands, he felt his mood drop even more.

Was she going to pretend that everything was okay? Or did she think that he hadn’t seen what she had done yesterday?

Or, did she not care enough to even hide it?

That made it easier for him then.

Not even bothering to smile, Kaiser gestured to her.

“My Office. Now.”

As he marched up the stairs, without paying any attention to her, her sat down at his desk and just stared at her with narrowed eyes as she stood in front of his desk with a worried expression.

“Are you okay, Kaiser? Did anything happen? You look upset. Is Luca okay? And why are you being mean?”

He was the one being mean?

Look at her. Still pretending.

“Valentina, where have you been? What have you been doing? And who were you with?” Kaiser asked coldly.

Hearing the cold and accusatory tone, Valentina wiped her concerned expression and calmly arched a brow at Kaiser.

What was going on with him?

“Valentina, where have you been? And who were you with?”

The same question came out with more anger in his tone.